275, Lot: 106. Estimate $100. Sold for $110. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Commodus. AD 177-192. Æ (20mm, 7.68 g, 6h). Contemporary imitation. Copying Rome mint. Struck after circa AD 183. Laureate head right / Minerva standing right, holding shield and spear. Cf. RIC III 72; cf. RSC 424. Fine, dark green patina. Unusual.

Property of Princeton Economics acquired by Martin Armstrong. Ex Classical Numismatic Group 49 (17 March 1999), lot 1634.

This curious piece is most similar to a semis (although Commodus is not known to have struck that denomination) but has traces of silver plating on the reverse. It is double the normal weight of a denarius and would not have been accepted as such.